Swamp rats
by Karelwolf
Summary: It is the 41st millenium, and there is only war.  Sergyent Alexei Karelov and his company struggle to liberate Imperial worlds from Tau invaders and the traitorous forces of rebel Governors on the fringes of Ultima Segmentum.
1. Swamp rats

Swamp rats

_**In the year 763 M.41, with the final purging of the largest remnants of Hive Fleet Behemoth from Ultima Segmentum's trade routes, key worlds and their outlying systems, Segmentum Command moves to counter the so called "Second Sphere Expansion" into Imperial territory by the Tau Empire and several rogue planetary governors. **_

_**With their forces exhausted by the bitter struggle with the Tyranid hordes, Segmentum Command opts to call for reinforcements. **_

_**Amongst the armies sent to aid the repulsion of the xeno threat is the 146**__**th**__** Tetriarch Guard Regiment of Vostroya. Born from the strife of the Occlusiad Wars, the Regiment has stood in service of the God Emperor for more than four thousand years.**_

_**It is the Regiment's first deployment to Ultima Segmentum and her soldiers strike hard upon the agri world of Kernera II, dealing death to xeno and traitor alike in the name of the God-Emperor...**_

_**After little over a month the Tau are finally being routed from one of their last bastions; the hills and swamplands of Kernera II's Northern hemisphere. **_

_**However, the battle is far from over...**_

Sergyent Alexei Karelov stared blankly at the orders again as the 8-wheeled Munitorum carrier bumped and jostled over the pitted and cratered road. He couldn't actually see what was written on the flimsy paper slip, it was too dark for that, but he could remember exactly what it said.

"_9__th__ Company to withdraw from present position by 01:00 hours and return to point 284 for resupply and transit to insertion point behind hill 113. Orders are to infiltrate Xeno battlelines and eliminate them from the area by 08:30 hours."_

As ever the orders had come straight from Major Prudmina, Polkovnik Tymeschenko's adjutant. They were such simple orders; to the point, yet also so marvellously vague.

_Typical of that pompous ass,_ Alexei thought to himself. He'd heard that the 10th and 11th Companies had been having a hard time on this flank of the regiment's advance, but things must have gotten pretty bad if Alexei's company was getting pulled off the line for an infiltration mission.

All things said and done, much had not gone according to plan on this planet; the Tau were powerful foes in terms of technology and were quick to react to strategic developments, but they lacked experience and certainly had little ability when it came to close combat. Even a first level novice of _ossbohk-vyar_ could best one of them in hand to hand combat, little wonder that they relied so heavily on the strange Kroot creatures for that.

It seemed that no matter where one found Tau, one found the strange creatures in spades. Khekking things even ate the dead if they had enough time.

His greatest surprise however, was the fact that they had human soldiers. He spat on the truck bed floor with a sour grimace as he thought on that. They may not have turned to the vile stain of Chaos, but they were traitors none the less.

Taking orders from _xenos_... such a disgrace could not be countenanced, the Emperor would not forgive them and neither would Alexei.

The huge hand of Demitri Korchagin settled on Alexei's right shoulder.

"You are alright, Papa Alexei?"

Alexei grunted, trying to hide his smile. Demitri was always looking out for him, by rights it should be the other way around.

"_Da, eto horoshyo, moi druk_. Just trying to figure out what sort of suicide mission Prudmina has given us this time." Alexei looked to the great bear of a man who had been by his side ever since he was conscripted. In all that they had been through, they had been through it together, somehow fated to survive when many around them didn't.

So very many.

"Then we shall just have to disappoint him once more, shall we not, Alexei?" Demitri replied, grinning broadly as he did so.

Alexei chuckled at their little running joke, digging out his hipflask and handing it to Demitri, who took a grateful swig before handing it back. As ever, the big man was utterly unaffected by the rahzvod, the same stuff Vostroyan tank crews used to clean their tanks of rust and the worst of filth.

Alexei took a swig himself, the rahzvod adding colour to his cheeks as it burnt its way down his throat. Nothing killed fatalism, boredom or brain cells like a little rahzvod, especially if it came from the distilleries of Sohlsvodd. It would get you "drunk or blind guaranteed."

He smiled to himself as he amended that to "drunk **and** blind."

"What's got you two going so early in the day?" Ludmilla Voroshilov asked, stifling a yawn as she emerged from her camo-cloak cocoon by the driver's cab, her sniper rifle cradled in her arm as though it were her child.

"Thought you were asleep, my little butterfly," Alexei replied as Ludmilla pulled back the hood, revealing her short brown hair, green grey eyes and rounded face.

"Hard to sleep when you two are guffawing like rad brained idiots, never mind the way the Chevek is driving this thing." Ludmilla said, the carrier bumping over a set of particularly stomach dropping holes as though to reinforce her statement.

"We were just toasting the imminent disappointment of our favourite Major." Demitri countered, the broad grin still on his face.

"Oh? A good cause to drink to then," Ludmilla said with a warm smile as she accepted the hip flask and took a nip herself. "_Spaseba_, Alexei."

"_Palszowousta_, Ludmilla."

The transport rocked again, the sound of gears grinding as the driver went through every gear except the right one to keep the vehicle going.

"_Vob tvoyu Maht_, this could make a fellow seasick."

After a bumpy and uncomfortable half an hour of cross country travel they reached the designated rendesvous point with their transport for the insertion; a small headland jutting into a large mist covered lake surrounded by boggy swamplands. Alexei squinted and could just make out Hill 113 on the other side of the lake. He also couldn't help but notice that their transport was conspicuously absent.

"Khekking wonderful, I didn't have my pelvis turned to jelly over the last half hour for nothing." Alexei looked back to the second carrier which had the other half of the company in it and bellowed for his vox operator, Efreitor Mischa Tretyak. Alexei slung his pack over his shoulder and strode to the rear of the carrier as the vox operator jumped from his own transport and came running.

"Where in the Emperor's name is our transport? They're supposed to be here," Alexei muttered to himself as he jumped from the carrier, taking care not to land on his right leg first. It was still giving him gyp even after all these years. "Mischa, get on to command and enquire as to where our transport is, unless Prudmina wants us to swim through _**that**_," Alexei said, gesturing with a wave of his arm to the great expanse of bog they were parked by.

While Mischa voxed command, Alexei called for the company to disembark, the squad leaders forming on him without him even needing to ask.

"So what's going on, Papa Alexei, what's the plan?" asked Graf Alyoshin, the 9th's only other Sergyent.

"The usual, _moi druk_, we're playing it by ear for now. Our transport hasn't shown up yet."

"Just another day in the Guard, eh?" quipped Efreitor Volodya Gramoteev, the 9th's only surviving medicae specialist and current leader of the remains of second platoon.

"_Da_, Mischa's voxing command now, hopefully they can shed some light on this."

After a few moments of impatient waiting Mischa made his report.

"Command says our transport is currently on route, two Chimeras from the 16th Gurends, whoever they are. ETA ten minutes... probably."

Alexei gave a tired nod as Graf chuckled. That was probably as good as they were going to get at such short notice.

"Two Chimeras, huh? _Horoshyo_, alright, if that's all we're getting we'll make do."

"Like we always do, eh, Alexei?" Graf asked, still chuckling.

"_Da, moi druk_, as we always do. So, I'll take Volodya and his children, my squad, Ludmilla and Anton, Maxim and Georgi and his stubber team with me as first wave. We'll secure the landing zone, get eyes on target and send the Chimeras back for Graf and his children. Sound good?" There were no dissenting voices.

"_Horoshyo_, okay then, let's unpack our gear and get ready, you know the drill. Mischa, make sure 10th and 11th Companies know we're moving up their flank, and see if you can get the mortar company to lend us support."

"_Puyotnam_, Sergyent," the sandy haired vox operator replied.

Alexei watched the 9th offloading supplies and checking their equipment.

_Ha! Company they call us,_ he though to himself,_ its barely a platoon now. Forty soldiers in all, forty men and two Chimera IFVs to take a ridge known to have armour somewhere on it. He could be facing a whole regiment of Tau for all he knew. Well, he'd faced worse odds. At least the Tau didn't butcher you like the Orks on Ganf Magna._

Alexei winced as Viki and Troska almost dropped the crate of incendiary grenades they were carrying off the transport.

"Children, those grenades are for those xenos across the way, I went through a great deal of trouble with the quartermaster to get them and I don't intend to see them go off until I've stuffed them down their blue throats." He gave the two newcomers a withering stare as they sheepishly continued their task. "If you drop them again I'll dock your pay and shave your moustaches off!"

He was starting to wonder if maybe he should have picked another pair as his tank killer team.

Well, it was too late now; they were already at the rendezvous point and they'd have to learn somehow, they were Firstborns after all. They were also the only tank killers he had with the training and the kit to do the job.

Better a pair of Shinys with an RPG than trying to do the job up close and personal with a satchel charge.

"Mischa, where by Saint Nadalya's tits are those Chimeras?"

Mischa looked up from his set after querying someone on the other end of the line.

"They say they'll be here in ten minutes, Sergyent."

Alexei was not impressed.

"That's what those Chevek fools said half an hour ago. We're losing the night here. Any longer than five and we're going without them, tell them that."

"_Puyotnam_ Sergyent" Mischa replied as he relayed the message with a smile.

"Pffft... Cheveks..." Alexei muttered to himself as he took another hearty swig from his hipflask.

He spent the next couple of minutes checking on the Shinys that seemed to make up half his "infiltration team". Aside from some nerves they seemed to be holding their own. Though they had been under fire more than once during this campaign this was a first for them. This was their first time as part of an infiltration team, and also a first time for Viki and Troska to put their training to its intended purpose; the business of tank killing.

Alexei couldn't wait to see the look on the Tau's faces when they saw their precious tanks go up in smoke.

Not that they'd be able to watch for very long, as Alexei would be showering them with incendiary grenades. Then they would meet dear Anastasia, his heavily modified shotgun and Piotr, his axe.

But that was for later, for now he still had to wait on those damn Chimeras.

As he re-cleaned and prepared Anastasia he heard the far off sound of tracked vehicles. He looked to Mischa and saw the affirming grin on the vox operator's face. Alexei turned to his children, a smile creeping across his face.

"_**Smirna!**_" he bellowed, watching as the 9th formed neat ranks by their equipment "Children, take your last breath of fresh air while you can. You'll wish you had more when you're stuck in these tubs they're sending us, and you'll sell yourselves for half a lungful once we're in the swamps."

He smiled as he saw the look upon the faces of the Shinys.

_Tonight may yet prove a good night_, he thought to himself.


	2. Embarkation

Embarkation

"One, this is Two. You sure we're going the right way?" asked Corporal Guy "Gunny" Townesend over the vox from 302.

Corporal Eloni Eversman keyed in his mike as 301 bumped and jolted over the rough ground.

"Two, One. This was the vector that the Captain gave us, before those fargin' idiot locals directed us down the wrong damned road. I swear, next time I see them I'll run the useless wankers over, over." He heard the laughing from both crews over the vox and looked back with a smile to the Chimera behind him, giving it a thumbs up.

"Copy that, One, out."

Looking forward again as he steadied himself on the pintle-mounted stubber Eloni scanned the landscape for any sign of the unit they were supposed to have linked up with well over an hour and a half ago. They'd been in steady contact with him, so they had to be out there.

He heard the internal vox bleep in his ear.

"What is it Tarriman?"

"They're asking where we are again, Eloni," replied his vox operator. "They're getting pretty antsy in their pantsies from the sound of it."

Eloni shook his head.

"Tell them we're ten minutes out, again." In truth, Eloni wasn't sure at all whether he was indeed ten minutes out. Studying his dataslate and trying to find landmarks that he could identify, he was becoming increasingly certain that those damned PDF had thoroughly farged this mission up for him. It didn't help that the mist was rolling in from off the lake. He could be driving up the Emperor's arse for all he knew.

Tarriman came back onto the channel again.

"They say if we're not with them in five they'll be leaving without us."

"Great..." Eloni muttered as he sat down in the turret and closed the hatch, the mist had become a thick fog.

After a couple of minutes, during which Eloni became increasingly sure he'd passed the rendezvous point in the fog, he spotted heat signatures on the thermal imager. A large blob by a pair of what were probably 8-wheeled cargo carriers, perhaps a half a mile off on a promontory jutting into the lake.

"Finally," he said, keying his mike. "Two, this is One; told you we were on the right track."

Alexei was inspecting the company's equipment when the Chimeras rolled up to their position. He didn't turn to acknowledge their arrival; he continued inspecting Georgi's heavy stubber with a carefully blanked face.

Georgi knew him too well; Alexei couldn't find anything wrong with the weapon, its mount or its crew, but then Alexei and Georgi had been together for five years now. He gave the faintest of nods to Georgi, who beamed proudly from beneath his beard.

He turned to the first squad of six, the remains of 9th company's 2nd platoon; consisting of Volodya the team medic, Efreitor Sergei Mladic, the three Shinys he had attached to him and last but not least, grenadier Maxim and his "little Maxim" grenade launcher.

They would, along with Georgi, be offering fire support to Alexei's squad and then following after once Alexei could force a hole and give them cover. Aside from a few issues with the Shinys he was happy enough with Volodya's squad. Despite, or perhaps because of, his medical training Volodya had a good head on his shoulders and he'd been with Alexei more than long enough to know how things worked.

In fact, were it not for his medical duties, Alexei suspected that Volodya may well have made officer by now. He gave Volodya an affirming nod and turned to his own squad.

Eloni counted about 40 soldiers as his Chimera closed the range, the large blob on his thermal imager resolving itself into individual soldiers, lined up in three groups. It looked as though there was an inspection going on.

_Great_, Eloni thought to himself, _late for the party and I'm going to be carting around a tight arse._

"Jakers, pull up alongside the carriers and I'll find out what we're supposed to be doing here."

Once the Chimera had come to a stop Eloni let down the rear access door and stepped outside, his boots squelching into the boggy ground.

He waited as 302 came to a juddering halt next to 301, the rear ramp lowering as Gunny Townesend squelched over to him.

"What a lovely place, so glad we spent the last two hours trying to get here," Gunny quipped with a lopsided grin as he undid the chin strap of his helmet.

"Yeah, well, the party hasn't started yet. We've still to get our stripes torn off," Eloni replied with a nod in the direction of the massed Vostroyans.

"Oh good, now I'm really glad we came," Gunny said with a frown as he removed his helmet, showing his shaven scalp.

"Come on, let's get this over with," Eloni responded, leading the way past the carriers and their morose drivers who looked no more willing to be here than the Chimera commanders.

Eloni soon spotted the vox operator that Tarriman had been speaking with, hunched over his set, some strange furred hat on his head. In fact, all the soldiers he saw had the same furred hats on their heads, their armour and greatcoats a uniform dull brown. It surprised the two Gurendians to see that the shaving standards appeared to be quite lax; in their own unit they'd get a whipping if the commissar caught them with even a hint of stubble, never mind the beard he spotted one giant, carrying a heavy stubber like it was a rifle, was sporting.

The vox operator turned around as Eloni and Gunny approached him, a neatly trimmed sandy coloured moustache upon his upper lip, his grey-blue eyes studying the pair in a casual manner.

"You must be the Gurends, huh?" the vox operator asked, his accent placing odd inflections upon the u's and s's.

"Corporals Eloni Eversman and Guy Townesend, 3rd platoon, 6th Company of the 16th Gurends mechanised," Eloni replied.

The vox-operator extended a hand in greeting.

"Mikhail Tretyak, 1st platoon, 9th Company of the 146th Tetriarch Guard Regiment of Vostroya. So, did command tell you why you're here or did they give you the same vague khekk that they gave us?"

The two corporals exchanged a look with each other as they shook the vox operator's hand in turn.

"We were told you'd fill us in."

The vox operator smiled and nodded to himself.

"_Da_, I figured as much."

As he turned to his own squad Alexei could hear Mischa and the Chimera commanders talking. Well, they could just wait until Alexei was finished; they'd made Alexei wait, so he would let them sweat for a few minutes.

He looked to Viki and Troska, inspecting them minutely with an almost disdainful expression. They'd have to do a lot better than their current performance if they were going to have the privilege of growing their beards.

He checked the straps on Troska's ammo pack, opening it and ensuring the krak and frag missiles weren't already primed. He'd seen that happen once before with unpleasant results for the Shiny and the poor fellows within ten feet of him.

Alexei grunted and closed the pack and inspected their weapons.

Both carried the standard Popel-pattern Mk.3 lasgun rifles that all Vostroyans had come to know and love. The main workings were stamp metal, however the stock and pistol grip were fashioned from imported wood, a simple fabric sleeve covered the woodwork and to their credit both troopers had dulled the metal with a lighter or strike-stick.

However, the smaller Viki also carried the Fyodor-pattern Mk.6 RPG, which stood almost as tall as its bearer when loaded. It was an old weapon, clearly passed down through many generations of young Viki's family from the many scars and blemishes upon it. It still bore its purity seals however, and despite the faded colour one could still make out the details of the writhing black stallion that was depicted along its length; its mouth open wide, spitting stylistic flame towards the end of the barrel and the green krak missile affixed there.

It was a beautiful weapon. Alexei grunted approvingly as he remembered that Viki had been nicknamed the "_Chomne Vasodniki_", the Dark Horseman, by the rest of the company. Well, soon that name would be put to the test.

Their armour was in order and anything that shined had also been dulled. At least the pair were learning.

Alexei barely had need to inspect the rest of his squad: the Voroshilov twins, Anton and Ludmilla, were technically snipers. As such they didn't wear the standard armour and would in any case be operating pretty much under their own initiative though still close to the team.

As for Demitri, his heavy gunner, the bearded bear of a man was much like Alexei in his deportment; a hotchpotch of personal modifications meant that his armour and weapon were anything but standard.

Both had seen a great deal and both had replaced their astrakhan Imperial badges with their Triple _Skull_ medals, though Demitri also bore the ribbon for his _Medallion Crimson_ upon his chest; something no man, whether friend, foe or Commissar could take from him without losing some fingers and maybe an arm too. The giant nodded curtly as Alexei clapped him on the arm with an approving smile and moved on to the next in line.

Anatoly stared straight ahead as Alexei checked his equipment, trying hard not to smile from beneath his stylish auburn moustache. Anatoly was considered the company joker and bard, well known throughout the regiment for playing his _ushehk_, making lewd comments and for being something of a lady's man when off-duty. Though he could be serious, he seemed more comfortable with making jokes, which was almost second nature to him. It was a concern for Alexei as when Anatoly got going he wouldn't stop, even if in combat. Thus Alexei had been forced to discipline him on several occasions.

Even so, when he had his mind on the job, Anatoly was a good close range combatant. Providing he could keep his yapper shut on this mission, he'd do fine.

Alexei moved on, shaking his head as Anatoly lost his battle with his smile. Finally, he came to Piotr and his flamer, a gasmask hiding his scarred face.

As ever, Piotr had done everything perfectly; in terms of his devotion to duty and his abilities Alexei couldn't fault him at all. The problem was Alexei couldn't help but worry about him.

When Alexei had first met Piotr, the boy had been one of those rare individuals who could just lift your spirits by walking into the room. He had an aura about him that made those around him comfortable and, despite himself, Alexei had taken a real shine to him. But then, on his first deployment to Ganf Magna and a real combat zone, Piotr had been gravely injured. The left side of his face had been damn near ripped from his skull.

Piotr had become a very silent man, always fawning over his little figurine of Saint Nadalya around his neck.

But what more could you expect from a fellow who'd had most of his face removed without his permission? It would have scrambled any soldier short of an Astartes.

Even so, it was hard to see. Piotr had been a handsome young boy and the heart of his squad.

Now, he was never seen with his gasmask off and he talked so rarely that some reckoned he was actually a ghost.

Whenever Alexei looked at him, the little light from the targeter where his left eye should have been was the only thing he could make out from behind the mask.

If he was honest, Alexei was starting to wonder if maybe Piotr should be sent home. The trooper just wasn't who he once was.

But what could Alexei do? Duty always called and the sons of Vostroya would always answer.

Alexei turned from his squad; that only left Mischa and Alexei himself.

He adopted a disapproving look as he turned round to the two Chimera commanders who had been waiting impatiently by Mischa during the inspection. He looked the two soldiers over with a critical eye as he strode towards them.

He was not impressed by what he saw.

"You are late! We have been waiting for you for more than an hour." He made sure to glower at them at little harder as they made to reply.

The Corporal on the left who had removed his helmet made to answer.

"We ran into difficulties with ou-"

"Half-hearted excuses and meaningless apologies will not get my men to their destination, corporal!" Alexei gave them no time to respond to his angry rebuke. Twirling smartly he addressed his team. "First wave, we are moving! Stuff yourselves into these filthy tubs: **on the double**!"

He turned back to the commanders as his advance team gathered their equipment.

"We are running late so I'll skip the introductions. No doubt my vox operator has given you the frequencies we will be using. We're heading for that hill over there across the lake. You're going to drop me off and come back here for the rest of my company. Once we're all on the other side, we're going to take that hill and you will support us. Once the hill is ours you can go back to wherever you came from. Fail me and I will kill you myself. Are we clear?"

"Crystal-" Eloni replied.


	3. Oskar Mikhail

Oskar Mikhail

Guy looked to Eloni with a shocked expression as the two Gurendians watched Alexei march off to confer with another sergeant and a medic. The pair were silent until Mischa finished speaking into his vox-set, hefted his pack onto his back and gave them a wan smile.

"Was he serious?" Eloni asked, nodding towards the retreating figure of Alexei Karelov.

"_Da_, very much so, I did warn you."

"Thought you were joking!" Guy blurted out, trying to laugh it off and failing spectacularly.

"_Nyet, moi Druk_, no joke. You two shall have to prove yourselves tonight, just like everyone else. Papa Alexei can be a bit of a taskmaster in that respect. But do your job right and you'll be as golden as the throne on Terra." Mischa replied as he gathered up his las-carbine and adjusted the position of the pack on his back.

"But he won't really shoot us, will he? I mean, he can't do that, _can_ he?" Guy asked, still unable to shake off his troublesome line of thought.

"I don't think it's a question of whether he can or not, but be glad you aren't officers; he'd probably have shot you already if you were," Mischa said, chuckling to himself as he gave Guy a sympathetic pat on the shoulder and strode towards the waiting Chimeras.

The two Gurendians watched him go; Guy despairing, Eloni pondering before turning to take another look at Alexei.

"Come on, Gunny, let's mount up." Eloni said as he half pushed, half dragged Guy back to 302 "Best not to give this fellow a reason to wave around that shotgun of his."

After helping Guy back to 302, Eloni entered his own vehicle via the rearward ramp and squeezed his way past a pair of Vostroyans; who were awkwardly manhandling a crate. Eloni couldn't help but note the Munitorum warning labels that were plastered all over it, proclaiming its contents to be explosive. He paused just in front of the turret access and watched the two soldiers. They were barely boys in his opinion, their armour and greatcoats seeming overlarge for them. He continued to watch as the pair tried to wedge their crate under the foldaway seats beneath the firing ports for the hull mounted lasguns.

With so little room for manoeuvre they were making a right meal of it.

"Here, let me help you-" he said, folding up all the seats on the left hand side of the interior and helping them guide the crate into a snug position on the floor.

The pair gave him a nod of thanks as they left the vehicle, skirting around the bearded giant with the heavy stubber much as two tugs would around a bulk carrier. Eloni was honestly surprised when the man managed to fit inside the rear compartment, a bored look on his face as he sat waiting by the door, the expression slightly twisted by a long, dirt-red scar on his right cheek. Eloni didn't think there was much to him, just another dumb giant, until he took a closer look.

In the second button hole of his greatcoat was the ribbon for a _Medallion Crimson_. It was fairly rare to see anyone in the Guard sporting that honour. Then there was the _Triple Skull_ medal pinned to the odd furred hat upon his head, whereas the other troopers Eloni had seen had worn the Imperial Aquila.

Come to think of it: that Sergeant Karelov had the exact same thing.

Eloni caught himself as the giant turned and looked right at him. There was an appraising look in his slate grey eyes. It spoke of an intellect that, while seeming slow to move, was by no means simple.

The big man shuffled further in as the two troopers from before returned with another crate. Two more figures entered the passenger compartment as the crate found a home on top of the last. This time a flamer trooper, a gasmask obscuring his face, who sat down where the giant had previously sat, and another trooper with an auburn coloured moustache and a crooked nose, who took a seat the other side of the giant. Almost as soon as he sat down he started up a conversation with the giant and the two troopers who were leaving for another crate. Eloni knew his type all too well, Gunny was just like him; vainglorious, proud and a gabbler. Judging from the laughs he got from the giant and the two troopers he was a comedian too. Though what the joke was he had no idea. Whatever language they were speaking it wasn't Gothic.

Eloni turned and entered the turret. As he ran his equipment checks and enquired as to whether Gunny had soiled himself yet he heard more troopers entering the vehicle. Once he was satisfied that Gunny's underwear was unsullied and all that should be working was still alive, he left the turret and moved forward into the front hull compartment where Tarriman and Jakers had been waiting for him.

"Alright boys, here's the play; we're going to be the ferry service for this lot so they can get across the lake. We're making two runs, hopefully, and then we're playing by however they want us to play it. We're strictly support on this, there's xeno armour near our DZ so we're keeping our heads firmly behind cover and out of our arses." Jakers suppressed a giggle at the mention of human biology. Eloni gave him a '_look'_ before continuing on. "We're doing this as quiet and quick as we can, so minimal noise and radio silence unless something comes up."

"Right boss," the pair replied in unison.

After giving Tarriman the appropriate frequencies Eloni turned back to check on his passengers. As he squeezed past the turret mounting, banging his head as he always did off the autocannon's feed mechanism, it became all too clear that the passenger compartment was pretty much full to capacity. There were now five crates, several backpacks as well as what looked like a locator beacon stashed on the port side of the vehicle. The two troopers who had moved all the guff that was clogging the port side were sitting on the seats closest to him on the starboard side; the smaller of the two holding an anti-tank weapon across his legs, the other a pack no doubt full of missiles for said weapon. To their left, sandwiched between them and the trio nearest the door, were two snipers; their weapons stripped down, camo-cloaks draped over their shoulders as they cleaned their scopes. It took Eloni a while to realise one of them was a woman. Eloni had never seen a woman soldier before; he'd heard of it, but he'd never seen it.

Through the open rear hatch he could see the vox operator, Mischa, and the sergeant named Karelov conversing with that same sergeant from before. The two sergeants hugged before Karelov and Mischa entered the vehicle, Mischa taking a seat somewhere behind the pile of equipment as Karelov exchanged some last sentiment with his comrade before turning to inspect the inside of 301. He looked almost approving.

"So, children, are we ready to fulfil our debt to the Emperor?" A resounding cheer startled Eloni and his crew. A smile crept across Karelov's face. "_Horoshyo_. We can get underway Corporal Eversman."

Alexei hadn't been joking about the inside of the Chimeras. Even with the onboard NBC scrubbers and AC system the fetid smell of the swamp still seeped in and burnt the hair from his nostrils better than any bootleg rahzvod could. Never mind the fact that even though the two transports were supposed to be able to carry 12 troopers each, both were pretty much full to capacity just carrying the first wave and their equipment. Thus not only was the atmosphere inside the two IFVs smelly and cramped, it was also getting fairly hot too.

At least the ride was fairly smooth as the Chimeras plowed through the water. No doubt the Cheveks steering these tubs were praying that there were no Tau fighters roaming the area. The slow moving IFVs would be the epitome of sitting ducks. Plus the fact that both were stuffed to the gunnels with incendiary grenades and various other highly explosive munitions meant that one wayward fart and the team would be flying to their destination in style.

He took another hearty swig from his hipflask. At least he'd get a five second warning before his flight and unexpected meeting with his maker.

"So children, let's go over it one more time." He ignored the complaints and moans from veteran and shiny alike. "We make land at the coordinates..."

"We set up the beacon and secure the beachhead," the team replied in unison with varying degrees of annoyance and boredom.

"Good, and once we've done that?" he asked with a poorly hidden smirk of glee at their annoyance.

"We move to the strike point while the Cheveks turn back for the rest of the company," the team replied.

"And what do we do once we are in position?" he prompted, taking another swig of rahzvod so as to hide his smile.

"We gut the sentries and mark targets for the pompoms," they said in the same tone as they had the last three times.

"Good. Viki, Troska, what is your task?" he asked with a more serious look, studying the pair of them as they replied.

"Mark and range primary targets for Fyodor and await your command to fire, Sergyent" the two tank killers responded with carefully blanked faces.

"Mmhmm... Anton, Ludmilla, what are your tasks?"

"Identify and range any and all officers, NCOs and heavy weapons teams and eliminate them upon your command, officers first. Once combat is engaged lay down suppression fire along with Georgi's stubber team."

Alexei nodded to himself and added "... and once the primary targets are neutralized?"

"Punch out along the ridgeline and provide information on any targets we see," the siblings replied with disturbingly similar smiles. Both knew the plan and both knew this routine all too well.

"_Horoshyo_." Alexei then turned to the great bulk that was Demitri Korchagin "And you my friend, not that I need ask, but what is your task?"

"Give you direct fire support as you take the trenches, squash any that dare to stand before us and grind them into the **filth** that spawned them." Not for the first time did Alexei feel very glad to have Demitri as a friend and not a foe as he noted the venom with which Demitri had said "_filth"_.

"Anatoly, what is your task?" he asked, half expecting some witty remark.

"To stick to your arse and try not to get flattened by Demitri or get a flamer tan off of Piotr"

Alexei gave him a disparaging look; could the fool never take things seriously? As he looked to Piotr, he was surprised when the man spoke before he had even asked, his muffled yet youthful and dispassionate voice lending an eerie feel to the already disquieting visage.

"I am to eliminate strongpoints and clear out habitation spaces, Sergyent."

Alexei tried to make out Piotr's expression behind the gasmask but could only see the red dot of Piotr's targeter. He wished he could tell what the lad was thinking.

Eloni only half listened to the vox traffic that Tarriman was feeding to his earpiece, things seemed quiet for the moment as the two Chimeras ploughed through the water. 301's vox equipment didn't have the range to contact their own unit anyway, but it was always good practice to be aware of what units were around you. Eloni had been listening to the plan that Karelov kept rehashing, indeed he felt he could probably recite it as well as his serial number and blood type by now. Despite the wearisome repetition, Eloni could tell there was sound reasoning behind it; if everyone knew the plan then there was less need to direct everyone involved. Just like weapons drills back in basic: if you could strip and reassemble your lasrifle in your sleep then you were prepared for whatever conditions you might encounter... as far as field stripping your rifle was concerned anyway. As the God-Emperor knew all too well, a lot of things in the Guard weren't anywhere near as easy to prepare for.

Keying his mike to external and 302's frequency, Eloni made his usual two minute check.

"Two, this is One, vox check, over."

"One, this is Two, read you loud and clear, over."

"How you doing over there Gunny?" Eloni asked as he turned his view finder around to check Gunny was still in formation behind him.

"I'm doing fine, got a prayer meeting going on over here, very Ecclesiarchical in my part of the world. You?"

"Hearing the grand plan for the fourth time, seems solid."

"Always good to know, One."

"Roger that, Two. Out." Eloni smiled to himself as he turned his view finder back in their direction of travel, Gunny must have recovered if he was cracking jokes again. The smile disappeared from his face a few moments later as he caught a glimpse of something at his one o'clock. He ducked down to his target finder and turned on the screen's heat detection sensor. For a moment the screen remained a solid green, numerous activation runes crawling across it. Then a bright, deep blue image came into focus, the ghosts of terrain and foliage lined in greyish blue. Near the shoreline were two orange-red blobs.

"_Farg_," he muttered under his breath as he switched his mike to internal. "Jakers, silent all stop." Quickly he turned his mike back to external, his heartbeat gaining speed. "Two, One. Silent stop, Orange. Contacts."

Alexei's train of thought was interrupted when the Chimera lurched to a halt. He looked towards the Chevek commander, who was staring intently at a small screen by his head. Alexei clambered over his team and the piles of equipment as he made his way over to the commander.

"Why have we stopped?"

"I have something on the surveyor... two or three heat signatures, small ones, at our one o'clock, distance: four hundred. They're right on top of your landing zone."

"_Vob tvoyu maht_..." Alexei thought for a moment. This was an unwelcome development.


	4. Disembarkation

Disembarkation

Alexei scowled at the screen. Of _course_ something like this would happen. It was the theme for the whole damned campaign.

"Are there any other contacts?"

"No, just those three. The rest seem to be local wildlife aside from a contact upon the ridge, probably a sentry, but I can barely see it and I doubt it sees us." Eloni paused as he replied to a message from the other Chimera. "There are no other contacts on our flanks or rear according to 302, though he says your other squad is requesting an update."

Alexei thought as he watched the screen, willing whatever the blobs were to move on. After a few moments of expectant silence he looked to the Voroshilov twins and smiled.

"Tell your comrade that we're going to do a little sport shooting."

Eloni looked at him with an incredulous expression.

"Don't worry Corporal Eversman. I don't intend to give us away."

Eloni wasn't at all sure what to make of Alexei's words.

"Two, this is One, the sarge says he's going sport shooting, over."

"One, this is Two, he's going _what_?"

"You heard me Two, out."

Eloni turned back and watched as Alexei clambered back into the passenger compartment over his team and equipment. Alexei tapped the two snipers on the shoulder as he passed, and silently indicated that they were going on to the roof.

After a couple more hand gestures that Eloni couldn't make heads nor tales of, both snipers dug out silencers for their rifles, checked their optics were clean, bundled up their other gear in their cloaks and made their way to Alexei; who was waiting under one of the hatches that allowed passengers to set up heavy weapons on the back of the Chimera's roof. It was also an emergency exit in case the rear door's mechanism jammed or failed, especially if the promethium tanks or ammo rack took a hit. It was amazing just how quickly people could exit it, especially when the vehicle took a direct hit. Eloni killed the main interior lights and activated the red auxiliaries.

"Take a deep breath, children," Alexei said with a smile as he turned the handle on the hatch with a chunky _**clunk**_. Even from where he sat, Eloni immediately caught the rank stench of the swamp in the back of his throat as the NBC seal was breached. He didn't envy the three going out into that.

Alexei braced himself by the door and gave the two snipers a boost up, winking playfully to Ludmilla as he did so. Once they were up he passed them their rifles and bundled gear and looked to Mischa.

"Magnoculars..." Mischa fished them from Alexei's pack and lobbed them back to their owner. Alexei then whispered to Ludmilla "psst, catch!" as he tossed them to her and pulled himself up to the roof. As he got his footing he heard Anatoly make one of his trademark quips and leaned down and flipped him the eagle, smiling as he heard Demitri and the rest of the squad laugh before he closed the hatch.

"Gutsy fargers," Tarriman said as the laughter died down. "Smells worse than my socks after a five day chemical warfare exercise out there."

"Nothing smells _that_ bad," quipped Jakers, which earned him a cuff round the ear.

"Alright you two, calm yourselves. Don't make me punt the pair of you out the rear hatch for a time-out," Eloni said as he swivelled his viewfinder around to watch the trio.

Alexei turned to the twins as Ludmilla passed him the magnoculars with an amused grin and affixed the silencer to her rifle. Anton had already taken up a firing position against the Chimera's turret while Ludmilla crept forward and took up her own to the right of it. Alexei moved up behind her and knelt, scanning into the distance looking for the spot where the three blobs had been on the Chimera's surveyor.

As he zoomed in he heard Anton's steady voice.

"Contakt, range 450, five targets."

Five targets? Alexei squinted hard into the viewfinder as he zoomed in. He could see that what had been the larger blob on the surveyor was in fact a group of three Kroot seeming to be chatting amongst themselves. The other two were clearly sentries. He looked again as he tried to make out just what the last one looked like.

"Do either of you two see wings on that khekking thing on the very left, or is this thing miscalibrated?" he asked uncertainly.

Ludmilla zoomed in, the little buzzing sound from her scope indicating that she had zoomed right in to get a better look.

"_Nyet_, you're right Alexei, it does have wings, though otherwise it seems little different from the others."

_Kroot with wings? Just another item to add to the list of strange things about those savages_, Alexei thought to himself.

"Well then you two, divide up your targets, primary is that flying bastard."

Alexei watched from the corner of his eye as the two snipers decided who got the primary via the ancient pastime of dead arming. Ludmilla won the right to take down the two sentries while Anton got to deal with the clump of chattering abominations and the two swapped places so as not to confuse their targets. Alexei was disappointed to lose his perfect view of Ludmilla's sculpted rear.

"Alexei, you are my spotter, keeps your eyes off my arse and on those targets."

Alexei tried to stifle a laugh as Ludmilla turned her head and stuck her tongue out while Anton snickered at her rebuke. He swore that at times she was a damned psyker.

He took a shallow breath of the vile swamp gas and focused again on the targets.

"We've got a slight westward wind at about 200, factor two... and a contrary eastward wind, factor three at 400. Seems regular and constant." He waited for a moment as the siblings gauged the wind and gentle rocking of the Chimera, adjusting as necessary. Both confirmed they were ready to fire with the little click of their safeties.

"Fire when ready..."

He heard them both take two deep breaths, then a third, slowly emptying their lungs until they were half full. Even while squatting less than a foot away from them he only saw the little dots from the tracers speed away and heard the tell tale turning of the bolts as the twins loaded their next rounds. The only other sound had been the click of the firing pin and the odd whisper of the silencers.

They had just finished sliding their bolts back into place when the first round hit its target. One of the three Kroot that were huddled together suddenly lost its head just a fraction of a second before the winged monstrosity lost its own. Alexei noted the second pair of tracers already speeding away to their unwitting targets and saw the second sentry lose its head in a similar fashion to the previous one.

However, Anton's second round hit its target in the upper chest, mortally wounding but not outright killing the stricken creature. As he heard the twins sliding their bolts back into firing position the last Kroot seemed to suddenly realise the acute danger it was in and attempted to stand in order to flee. Alexei watched as two more tracers sped their way towards the panicked target. One smashing into its neck just below the jawline, the second driving into the left side of its face, the force of both rounds punched the body back as the head region simply disappeared in a thin cloud of blood.

All in all, from first firing to the demise of the last target, some six seconds had passed. Good, but there was one still alive, mortally wounded, but still alive. Alexei watched it trying to feebly crawl away from the swamp. It wouldn't be going anywhere soon, even if it had the strength, tenacity and sheer force of will to crawl all the way up the ridge to safety. It would bleed to death long before then.

He looked to the two snipers with a pleased expression.

"Very good children. Excellent shooting from you, Ludmilla." He turned with a slight frown to Anton and motioned to the last target, still clawing its way at a snail's pace from the swamp. "But not so good from you, Anton, you had better not give such a performance once we're on the ridge."

Anton grimaced at the rebuke and muttered a curse under his breath.

"Ludmilla, give the creature the Emperor's Benediction."

Alexei heard Ludmilla turn the bolt as another round was loaded into the breech. A second later he saw the tracer speed away into the mist as he put down his magnoculars. He needn't watch the creature's demise. Ludmilla couldn't miss an easy target like that, even from a mile away.

He stood up, turned and walked back to the hatch and rapped on it three times. It opened barely a moment later, the red-lit face of Mischa staring up at him.

"Mischa, pass me Anastasia, danger's clear."

"So how'd we do, Papa Alexei?" Mischa asked as he passed Alexei his equipment.

"We did very well, they never saw what hit them. Tell the Chevek we can move on, there's no need for any more delays. I'll just have to hold my breath a little longer."

Alexei buckled on his ammo pouches and grenade satchels and looked Anastasia over as the hatch door closed. Alexei sat back down next to the twins as the two vehicles surged forward through the stagnant water. The three didn't exchange any words as the IFVs climbed out of the muck, stopping a good ten metres from the water, letting down the ramps and disgorging the rest of the team. Alexei nodded to the ridge and pointed to it with a sharp chopping movement. The twins leapt down in silence and disappeared into the long grass. As he jumped down from the IFV he could see Georgi and the two squads were already setting up a perimeter.

He strode over to Mischa, who was setting up the beacon, and watched as the Chimeras backed into the swamp and turned back for the rest of the company. He turned and watched his team complete their perimeter.

"Once you've got the beacon set up I'm taking Anatoly and Maxim up to the ridge to reconnoitre with the twins. Move up once the Chimeras are within sight."

"_Puyotnam_, Alexei."

"And throw that filth in the swamp," he added with a nod to the bloody mess that had been the Kroot lookouts.

Looking back through his viewfinder, Eloni watched as the first wave spread out into a tight perimeter. Turning to his target finder he spotted the two lone heat blips of the snipers moving up the ridge as he panned it round. Looking through his view finder again he couldn't identify their position, even though they were moving. He shook his head as he looked to the target finder again.

"Glad they're on my side," he said to himself, _at least until their sergeant says otherwise_.

"Two, this is One, stay alert, we may be coming back hot, over."

"Roger that, One. Remind me never to take up gambling debts with snipers, over."

"Affirmative, Two. Out."


	5. Reconnoitre

Reconnoitre

If there was one thing Alexei hated -aside from useless officers, highborn fools, commissars, xenos, traitors and your average Guard issue rations, of course- the very next item on the list of things Alexei Karelov hated with a galaxy-burning passion would be bugs. In very big letters.

Alexei had hated them as a child, and had only grown to hate them all the more as his service to the God-Emperor had opened his eyes to just how many of the universe's various species had a preference for blood or invasive forays into other, fleshier species. Specifically, his blood and flesh in particular. Which, when all's said and done, were his and not to be shared without his consent in the matter as far as he was concerned. He'd spent far too many nights in his life being awoken by something crawling up an orifice which, for all intents and purposes, should be labelled '_**not a khekking entrance!**_'.

If it wasn't the rot worms on Ganf Magna it was oversized ratroaches, or those damned corpse flies and other flying and crawling annoyances.

As Alexei slopped through the boggy ground at the base of the ridge, the long grass occasionally swatting him in the face, he was trying his hardest to ignore the swarms of insects that seemed determined to drain him dry.

Where they'd all come from he couldn't tell. As per usual they seemed to simply materialize from thin air whenever he was around because that was the unspoken law of the khekking universe.

Alexei was immensely relieved when the swarms abated as he reached a dry culvert that lead up the slope towards the ridgeline.

He paused and looked behind him to check on Anatoly and Maxim, both of whom looked just as relieved as he was to be away from the buzzing, stinging hordes. After taking a moment to get his bearings, Alexei lead them both at a crouch up the slope, eventually being forced into a crawl as the grass thinned as rapidly as the mist. Barely a couple of minutes later and the trio were feeling very exposed despite the dark.

Alexei halted and looked back towards the lake. He couldn't see the team, the mist that shrouded the swamp completely hid them and the landing zone from view.

_Perfect_, he grinned, _this is going to be a good night after all. The xenos wouldn't know what hit them any more than those abominations had_.

The grass became even sparser as the trio neared the ridge. Alexei forced himself to slow their crawl up to the position he had seen one of the twins take up through his magnoculars. He didn't intend to get this far only to be discovered and get his arse shot off by some hidden xeno.

He halted for a moment in a furrow, the dry earth studded with small stones that pricked his exposed flesh. He took his bearings and heard a tell tale bird call from one of the clumps of vegetation that passed for bushes on this planet. He only hoped that the xenos didn't realise that the bird call belonged to a resident of Ganf Magna. As he neared he made out the well-hidden form of one of the twins. Even then, he knew what he was looking for and it wasn't an easy task.

He raised his fist and heard Anatoly and Maxim rustle to a halt, their breathing heavy and seeming all too loud in the still night. He turned and stuck his forefinger in the air, circling it a few times, indicating that this was the overwatch position. The two troopers turned to watch the flanks, huddling down enough to be hidden but ready to engage if necessary.

Alexei crawled forward into the bushes and found Anton kneeling in the midst of them, surveying the terrain ahead with his thermal sight.

As he surveyed the surrounding terrain he noted a number of trenches and could make out some Tau fire warrior troopers in them, their distinctive armour marking them out even in the dark. There were also a number of dugouts as well as a small camouflaged pit that on closer inspection with his magnoculars contained a number of those damned gun drones. That would be a priority for Maxim, no sense wasting a krak missile on those annoying little radniks. The one thing he had yet to see was a way into the trenches without taking some serious fire.

He keyed his vox to the team frequency and started noting down key positions so Mischa could relay them to headquarters and the pompoms. As he looked along the ridge itself he realised the there was a rise separating this position from the rest of the ridge, obscuring it and even Alexei's position from view. He gave a great grin as he realised that he could effectively destroy this position with ease under the cover of an artillery barrage and the Tau would be none the wiser until he started firing at whatever positions lay beyond the rise.

"We've already got a primary, Papa Alexei." Anton passed him the scope. "It's half hidden in a tank trench. It's not well camouflaged, but that pattern is for aircraft. Some flyboy passing overhead wouldn't notice it unless he was really close. Close enough to give us a free shave. But from here, it's just too obvious."

Alexei could see the strange camo-pattern without the scope, but from his position couldn't make out the vehicle hidden beneath. As he zoomed in with the scope he could make out the stubby shape of an ion cannon, a stark yellowish red against the background blue and green of the cold earth of the tank trench.

"So, it's one of their infantry support ones, huh?" _That couldn't be the one that had taken those potshots at the armoured troops and the regimental command vehicles, so there _**are**_ multiple tanks on the ridge, _Alexei thought_. That makes things interesting. A good opportunity for the Chomne Vasodniki and his loader to earn their beards_.

He keyed his vox again.

"Mischa, tell command; have eyes on primary target, can confirm multiple armoured targets present in target zone. Continuing overwatch."

"_Puyotnam_, Alexei." Mischa affirmed.

"These Tau still have much to learn," Alexei said as he studied the trenches, grinning as he heard Anton snicker. "We can roll right up this position and take them apart piece by piece. To think that command believes them to be such a threat."

"Command thinks many things, but rarely ever the right things," Anton replied, wincing as Alexei punched him in the arm as he tried to stop himself from laughing at Anton's remark. "If you were a General or a Lord Marshall, then things would be different I'm sure, Papa Alexei."

"They certainly would. First off I'd boot some of those highborn fools up the arse and then I'd make your sister my personal assistant," he grinned to Anton. "Speaking of whom, where is our dear Ludmilla?"

"She's to our right," Anton replied, pointing a thumb towards the ridgeline to their right. "Maintaining overwatch on a xeno OP."

"An OP?" Alexei looked to the right and noticed the trench running just under the crest of the ridge; he couldn't see where it lead to. He turned his vox to Ludmilla's frequency. "Ludmilla, what is your position, my darling?" He punched Anton in the arm as he heard him sniggering again.

"I'm fifty metres to your right," Ludmilla voice whispered into his ear. "I can see a xeno officer and two soldiers. I think there's a dugout as well as the officer seemed to appear out of nowhere. I cannot confirm that from my position though."

"That's our infiltration point. Hold your position for now."

"_Puyotnam_, Alexei."

Alexei turned back to the team frequency and enquired of the status of the Chimeras.

"They're just picking up Graf and are five to ten minutes away, Alexei. Do you want us to move up?"

"_Da_, Mischa, get the children up here. Besides, you're the one who'll be correcting the pompoms' fire. You're not going to believe our luck on this one and I want to use it while we've still got it."

"_Puyotnam_, we're Oskar Mikhail..."

"Roger, confirmed. Hey, Eloni. First wave's got eyes on target and they're moving to strike," Tarriman half shouted over the noise of second wave piling into 301's passenger compartment.

"What? What do you mean they're moving to strike? What's that Karelov guy thinking?"

"Dunno, Boss, but they recommend we haul buttock, sir."

"Right, fine," Eloni sighed. _Tight arse's a bit eager to get stuck in. Well fine, we're playing it his way after all._ "Two, this is One, we're definitely coming in hot and heavy, over."

"Roger, One, Out."

Eloni looked back into the passenger compartment and spotted the bearded sergeant hustling the last stragglers on board.

"Hey, sergeant!" Eloni shouted, beckoning him with an urgent wave of his hand.

"_Da_, what is it, corporal?" Graf asked, his breath reeking of something distilled.

"Karelov's moving on the target without you, should I be concerned by that?" Eloni asked, not encouraged by the smile that spread across the Vostroyan's features; for one thing it showed how a number of his teeth were missing.

"That depends, but either way, the Emperor protects."

"I'll be honest with you; that does not fill me with confidence, sergeant. I had thought there was a plan. I heard it repeated enough when I was carting him over there."

"Plans change, _moi druk_, usually in the fine details. If Alexei is moving now, it is because he is ensuring to endeavour that the optimum beneficial outcome is assured. In other words: he's playing it by ear," Graf replied, the smile still hanging on his face like a smog cloud over a Manufactorum district.

"Which is a good thing?" Eloni asked, to which the Vostroyan gave a shrug.

"More often than not."

"Wonderful," Eloni said through gritted teeth, to which Graf simply laughed.

"You've never been to Ganf Magna, have you, Corporal? Trust me, a couple of tours of that accursed place and you'll learn that plans tend to be the first thing to get shot to pieces." Graf then gave a nasty laugh. "Along with the officers who make them."

Eloni spent the length of the journey with his eyes glued to his view-finder, with Tarriman feeding him the vox traffic from Karelov's team. Though, seeing as how most of what he heard was in the Vostroyans' foreign tongue, it didn't really help him that much. He even asked Graf to translate it but the Vostroyan barely said anything, shrugging off Eloni's questions and assuring him that if anything important happened he'd let Eloni know.

Eloni couldn't help but feel irked by the Vostroyan's casual attitude.

By the time the two Chimeras were halfway to the landing zone, Eloni had spotted the explosions of the mortars that Karelov had called in. It worried Eloni to no end when the occasional explosion became a torrent of fire, the loose equipment in the vehicle vibrating with each far off explosion.

When he spotted a large blob of heat signatures by the squat yellow square of the relay beacon he felt reassured; at least Karelov had left someone to watch over the landing zone.

However, as they closed on the landing zone and the image on the target finder became clearer and more detailed Eloni got a bad feeling in his gut.

There were simply too many signatures on the screen, and they were looking less and less like humans.


	6. Exsanguination

Exsanguination

Alexei was already on the move with Anatoly when he spotted the unmistakable bulk of Demitiri Korchagin emerging from the mist below. Alexei hunkered down just beneath the crest, the sparse vegetation shielding him from observation by the Tau as he watched Demitri lead the rest of Alexei's squad up. A good twenty metres to Demitri's left Georgi emerged; the wheeled Sokolov mount for his heavy stubber on his back, his gunner behind him with the weapon itself cradled in his arms, the loaders trailing silently behind them. Another twenty metres beyond them Alexei could just make out the ghosts of Volodya's squad emerging from the mists.

So far so good, no one seemed to know they were here. Though, Alexei smiled to himself, that would soon change. He motioned to Anatoly and continued towards Ludmilla's position.

He stopped and held his breath when he came across a lizard; its colourful ruff shooting up, hissing a warning that he'd surprised it. He hadn't even seen it and it was little more than inches away from him. It gave a second hiss as his hand groped carefully for his combat knife and he froze solid. For a few tense moments he waited, not willing to risk trying to shoo it away this close to the enemy. Despite the dark he could make out the colourful markings well enough to know it to be a Cahrid gecko; he could even see the highly poisonous barbs on its tail and back. There was no sense in tempting fate and getting a face full of toxin laced barbs. He'd seen what one of those could do to a man; the regimental surgeon had given them all a long lecture on the lethality of this small creature with plenty of holopicts that went into unnecessarily graphic detail. It was barely the length of his forearm from head to tail yet its barbs contained enough toxins to kill a small village. Had he not startled it he might well have crawled right over it; apart from the colourful, vibrating ruff it blended almost seamlessly into the sparse grass and dry earth.

He heard Anatoly crawling up and motioned with his free hand for him to stop, whispering very quietly out the side of his mouth.

"Wha'e'er yuu do, do not mo'e yuu ij'ot..."

"What?"

Alexei gave the lizard a look to the effect of 'just kill me, dammit, spare me from him _please_'

The lizard returned him a blank stare, its hiss dying and its ruff folding away before it crawled away into the long grass down the slope, clearly disinterested in such an offer. Alexei let out a deep sigh and looked back to Anatoly with a disdainful expression. Sometimes it felt like he had to watch his back and his front if he wanted to stay sane and in one piece.

Anatoly returned him an incomprehending look, still not understanding Alexei's brush with a painful death. Alexei gave him a withering stare and continued on up the slope.

Ludmilla didn't move as Alexei crawled up to her position. She was still observing the OP. When he came up level to her, she gave him the slightest of nods.

"They haven't moved; the officer seems to be studying the 10th's line, the other two seem less than alert."

Alexei looked to the officer, who was watching the 146th's line through the vegetation that hid his trench from observation. Observation from the 10th,that is.

"Of course, they think their little abominations are still watching their flank. Where's this suspected dugout?"

"Two meters to the left of the officer. If it is there it isn't big considering the size of the trench."

"Enough for a couple more xenos you think?" he asked, genuinely interested as he'd be venturing in there in a few minutes.

"Good chance Alexei, maybe two more. Any more and it wouldn't be easy to hide. Two or three shifts, no more than that."

Alexei heard the telltale beep in his ear. He tuned back into the team frequency.

"_Da_?" he whispered into his vox.

"Alexei, we're in position and the Chimeras are almost at the beacon, Georgi's setting up his stubber now, Maxim and the Chomne Vasodniki are locked on target and the pompoms are waiting for the order to rain hell."

"_Puyotnam_ Mischa. Get yourself, Demitri and Piotr over here double quick, I've got a juicy opportunity I don't want to waste here. Make sure to tell the Vasodniki and his friend to keep behind the ridge when they join up with us. I have no intention of losing my tank hunters and having to lug that RPG with me through these trenches unless I have to."

"_Puyotnam_."

Alexei looked to Ludmilla and made a gun symbol towards the officer, she silently nodded and adjusted her rifle. As she did so Alexei turned to Anatoly and drew a finger across his neck and jabbed it at the sentry on the right. Anatoly smiled and nodded his understanding. Alexei adjusted Anastasia's strap and moved her over his shoulder, tightening the strap so she wouldn't move about unduly. He then unsheathed Piotr and, taking the axe in hand, slowly crawled forward towards the trench. There was no going back now, certainly not for these fool xenos.

As soon as he got within a metre of the trench he looked to his right and saw Anatoly was ready to pounce on his target, his trench knife in hand. Alexei held up five fingers, slowly counting down. When he got to two he turned to the xeno not five feet from him and slowly stood. He raised the axe above his head, bracing himself and then leapt forward, swinging the axe down squarely upon the Tau's helmeted head. He was rewarded with a great cracking followed by a much meatier sound as the axe head lodged itself within the brainpan. The body almost immediately went limp, collapsing awkwardly to the trench floor as Alexei heard the officer's head explode from Ludmilla's shot. Alexei put his booted foot to the now dead xeno's shoulder, grunting as he pushed against it while pulling upon the axehandle. The axe head grudgingly gave up its cozy new home. A spurt of blue blood erupted from the great wound as he pulled the axe free, pooling around the head with impressive speed upon the trenchfloor. He looked to Anatoly, who was in the midst of slitting the throat of the second sentry despite the xeno's struggling. Alexei watched calmly as he heard the alien start to gurgle; Anatoly had found the chink between the helmet and neck guard and dug into it, wiggling the blade so as to force the hole to open wider as he pushed his knife in to the hilt, forcing it across the xeno's neck. Alexei looked around to ensure no one had spotted them, noting that there was indeed a dugout. Alexei helped Anatoly lower the dying xeno to the trenchfloor, the body uttering a noise somewhere between a gurgle, wheeze and a bubbling sound from its torn throat.

_So far so good_, Alexei thought. He looked to Ludmilla's position, hearing her confirmation that they were undetected in his earpiece.

"Beautiful..." he said to himself.

Anatoly moved up the trench as Alexei entered the dugout, surprised to find to it occupied by two sleeping Tau, neither of them wearing their armour. Well they wouldn't be waking up anytime soon; in fact they wouldn't be waking up at all. He swung Piotr at the closest one, the axe cleaving its face in two, the body convulsing from the impact and sudden destruction of its central nervous system. As he pulled the axe head free he saw the second wake up, alerted by the sound of its friend's demise. Alexei smiled to it with a big grin, his face spattered with blue blood.

"_Zdrastoitye moi druk_..."

As Alexei left the dugout Anatoly gave him a questioning look, Alexei simply shook his head in response and tuned into the team frequency.

"Mischa, infiltration point cleared, no resistance. Your status?"

"Oskar Mikhail, can see your position now..."

Alexei turned round to see Demitri just starting down the slope by Ludmilla's observation point, with Piotr and Mischa close behind. Alexei took one last swig from his hipflask and sheathed his axe, he wouldn't need it for what was to come; stealth was no longer a priority. He loosened Anastasia's strap, taking her in hand and motioning for Mischa to come straight to him. He nodded to Demitri and Piotr as they passed, noting the approving grunt that Demitri gave as he stepped over the slain Tau, and directed them to move up to Anatoly and keep low. He tuned into the team frequency again as Mischa came up to the dugout.

"Okay children, this is how it's going to go; the pompoms are going to rain a little harassing fire on our xeno friends so they keep their heads down. When I give the word, you open up on your targets while I advance my squad through the trenches and clear them out. I'll call on you as needed so keep the chatter to a minimum on this frequency. The Emperor is with us, we shall not disgrace him."

With that done he nodded to Mischa.

"Zenya this is Zsdar," Mischa said as loudly as he dared into his vox set. "Ready for preliminary bombardment."

After a few moments the telltale _crump_ of the mortars could be heard. The team as one unconsciously huddled a little further down as they awaited the whistle that would announce the arrival of the mortars.

Alexei moved at a crouch to where Anatoly was hunkered down, he took off his astrakhan and peered over the lip of the trench. Barely a few seconds later he could make out the high pitched scream of the falling mortars. The first three rounds struck, falling short of the Tau position, almost as though it was being ranged. The second set of three landed around the trenches themselves moments later, but caused no casualties. The Tau were alert but not too concerned, this had happened many times before over the past week. Two more groups of three landed randomly around the position, one round landing very close to where Alexei and his squad were hiding.

All the better to lure the officers out of their holes and into the open, where the twins could gun them down once the barrage truly started. Alexei ducked down again and replaced his astrakahn upon his head; he listened to the reports from the twins as they marked the Tau rally points and dugouts for the pompoms second salvo. The random mortar fire continued for another minute, giving the impression that the mortar crews were firing blind. Alexei was about to break that illusion. He looked to Mischa and gave a nod.

"Zenit this is Zsdar, targets confirmed and awaiting munitions." He turned a switch so the entire team could hear the reply over the team frequency.

"Zsdar this is Zenit 1, order acknowledged, we shall rain the Emperor's Vengeance upon them! All teams, _**agon**_!" in the distance a chorus of _crumps_ could be heard and the team braced itself for the imminent arrival of "the Emperor's Vengeance".

The screams of the mortars were much louder and far more numerous than had been the case not half a minute before. The earth trembled as the mortars ripped into it, tearing it asunder with their deadly fire, lighting up the night with a small vision of hell. Alexei shouted into his vox as he stood.

"All units free to fire!" He pumped his fist in the air three times and charged forward, seeing the streak of Viki's Krak missile amidst the dust and flame as it sped towards its target.

Barely a second later he heard it explode, followed by an even louder explosion and a great sheet of blue flame as the xeno tank's engines went up, lending a strange feel to the vision before him. As he charged down the trench the mortars were still landing around him; he could barely hear the updates his team were giving him through his earpiece over the noise. Every so often he could make out the steady chatter of Georgi's heavy stubber, the crack of lasrifle fire and the whoosh of Piotr's flamer behind him as Piotr cleared the dugouts Alexei had passed. He covered a good fifty metres of trench before he encountered a living xeno, not that it was in a particularly healthy state. Its legs and lower torso were missing and it was desperately trying to put its oddly coloured intestines back inside the gaping hole.

Alexei ignored it and ran on towards a T-junction up ahead, halting and bracing himself against the trench wall. He peered around the corner to the left. Spotting nothing alive or in one piece amongst the mess the mortars had left, he moved in slowly with Anastasia ready. If he had remembered the layout correctly, there was a communications dugout in the next trench; it had been close to the pit with those accursed gun drones. He moved cautiously, checking behind him, reassured to see that Demitri was right behind him. As he came to another junction, he halted and switched to Anton's frequency.

"Anton, I'm almost at the communications dugout, are there any xenos near me?"

"Negative, sergyent, none that are still alive. Though I saw some drag a wounded fellow into the dugout during the bombardment."

"_Puyotnam_." Alexei turned to his squad frequency. "Mischa, tell the mortars to shift their fire further along the ridge and get Volodya in these trenches, on the double!" He didn't wait for the reply, turning to Demitri and signing for him to watch the right hand corner.

Alexei hugged the trench wall as he once again peered around the corner; just as Anton had said, there were no living xenos in sight, the flames from the drone pit a sure sign that the area had been well covered by Anton and Maxim. Alexei advanced to the entrance of the communications dugout and paused at the entrance.

He could make out voices within, speaking in a language unintelligible to him. He fished a K-120 incendiary from his belt and a K-106 bundled stick-grenade from his satchel, pulled the pins, waited for a count of two and then tossed them in, swiftly taking cover. He heard a warning shout but it was far too late. Both grenades exploded, damn near deafening Alexei. Alexei counted to three and then ran into the dugout. He exited a few seconds later, half choking on the smoke and thoroughly satisfied that the dugout and its occupants wouldn't be communicating with anyone. He turned to the team frequency again and asked for status reports. No casualties, the Chomne Vasodniki had scored a kill and had joined up with Ludmilla and Mischa. The Chimeras were moving up with the rest of the company and the trenches were clear of any visible activity.

"Okay children, a good start-Georgi, hold your position. Volodya, get your squad to my position and start clearing these trenches, I don't want any surprises. Mischa, move up with Viki to Anatoly's position. Ludmilla, Anton, punch out to the crest and give me eyes on our next target."

Alexei moved down the trench, checking bodies and dugouts for stragglers. Finding nothing and not willing to go near the still blazing tank, he returned to Demitri just as Volodya and his squad showed up.

"Volodya, take your children and clear this trench. We'll backtrack to the first junction and clear the trenches along the ridgeline."

"_Puyotnam_ Sergyent. Come children- Vasilli, you're on point- Sergei, give him cover."

Alexei waited as the squad moved cautiously up the trench under Demitri's watchful eye.

"Come Demitri, we have our own work to do-"


	7. Moving on

Moving Up

Pryvat Fyodor Bondarchuk was trembling.

He wasn't afraid, he was feeling far too excited to be afraid anymore. He had been nervous back in the Chimera; though that was mostly because he just couldn't handle confined spaces that well. But now, now his heart was racing and the only fear he had was that it might leap from his chest. He'd had a front row seat to the fire and carnage the mortars had brought to the Tau position. He'd heard the mortar company call it the Emperor's Vengeance over the vox, and if the cratered ridge and half demolished trenches in front of him weren't a testament to that sentiment, then he wasn't sure what was. A part of him was disappointed that he hadn't gotten a chance to kill a xeno, but as the primary loader he had to ensure that the belt didn't jam the heavy stubber's feed mechanism. His hands still felt hot from the friction, he'd been amazed by the rate at which the brass flew across his hand as the weapon greedily ate up the two hundred round belt. He was sure he'd never get the harsh smell of propellant out of his nostrils. He watched as the flash and thunder of the mortar fire crept further and further away from his position, the stricken tank still blazing fiercely, casting the ridge in its odd blue light.

"Alright, Kremenchug, change out that barrel before any more xenos show up. Bondarchuk, you watch what he does, and make sure to remember, hmmm?" Georgi said as he lowered his magnoculars. "We're staying put for now but that doesn't mean we're out of this fight, _puyotnam_?"

"_Puyotnam_, Efreitor," Bondarchuk chorused along with the Kremenchug and his fellow loader, Novotsinev.

The stubber was a fairly simple beast, far less complicated than Bondarchuk had thought it would be. It was a simple enough task to make the weapon safe and remove what was left of the belt. The barrel change itself was trickier. Though the carrying handle made things simpler, all one had to do was pull it towards the receiver and then twist the barrel through ninety degrees to the left and the barrel came free, getting the new barrel to slot back in proved a fiddly task. However Bondarchuk completed the whole operation without too much trouble on his try, no thanks to his still trembling hands. He was quite proud of himself, he'd never been trained for heavy weapons.

"Don't worry about it, Fyodor," said Novotsinev, patting him on the shoulder. "The adrenaline rush takes some getting used to."

"Da, at least you didn't have the problem Akhmataev had," Kremenchug chimed in with a dirty smile as he replaced the belt in the receiver and pulled back the cocking handle. "He'd never manage quick displacement because of it; fire drills always made him harder than a Leman Russ' frontal plate."

"Could have used it to demolish buildings," Novotsinev replied, chuckling as he surveyed the ridge, his lasrifle in hand.

"Or build a khekking good bridge," Kremenchug added, using the still warm barrel to graphically illustrate his point.

"You filthy sons of Groxes never heard of noise discipline?" Georgi asked, his expression stern. "We're on the frontline here."

"Sorry Efreitor," the three replied.

"I swear, sometimes I wonder about you idiots. Take no heed of these two, Fyodor; pair of filthy minded, rad brained idiots," Georgi said, his stern expression crumbling slightly as he looked through his magnoculars. "Even if it _was_ khekking true; never needed the combat _ingeneery _whenever he was around. Heh, he was practically famous for it. Now watch your sectors."

Beyond the noise of the mortars and the occasional glimpse of their comrades in the trenches nothing seemed to be happening. As the four of them waited Fyodor heard the distinctive sound of engines coming from the lake behind them.

"Is that the Chimeras?" he asked, looking back towards the lake to see if he could spot them despite the mist.

"_Da_, probably is, Mischa said they'd be hear soon," Georgi replied, not taking his eyes from the ridgeline opposite. "Must have put the pedal to the metal when the pompoms opened up, the party will really start once Graf gets up here."

"Who's that back in the grass then?" Fyodor asked, not quite able to make out the figure that seemed to be directing someone further back in the mist.

"Probably Graf if the Chimeras are here already," Kremenchug replied, leaning back to take a gander himself.

"But the Chimeras don't sound that close," Fyodor countered as the two watched the figures emerge from the mists.

It was Fyodor who realised something was wrong first. The figures were too tall, and too many were emerging from the mist.

"Oh khekk..."

Alexei and Demitri had almost returned to Anatoly and Piotr when they heard the telltale crack of lasgun fire. However it was not coming from the trenches, the firing was coming from the ridge behind them. As Alexei tuned into Georgi's frequency he could hear the heavy stubber opening up.

"Georgi, what by Saint Nadalya's tits is going on back there?" for a moment all he got back was the sound of Georgi shouting curses and laughing as he continued firing.

"Georgi, report dammit!" Georgi continued laughing in his ear as the stubber fire continued, the telltale _**thud**_ of the Chimeras' autocannons and what sounded like a large explosion echoed to him. What in the Emperor's name was going on?

"Anyone on this frequency, report in!" he heard the excited voice of one of Georgi's loaders, Georgi himself still laughing and shouting curses.

"Farg, don't let that be what I think it is," Eloni said to himself as he counted. So far he'd identified about fifty blobs, fifty blobs that simply could not be Karelov and the first wave. The Vostroyans were a bit strange but Eloni was looking at xenos, there could be no doubt, no human looked like what he was seeing.

"Hey, sergeant, take a look at this," Eloni said, leaning out of the way so the target finder was clearly visible. The Vostroyan peered at the screen, unsure what he was seeing at first, but as realization dawned his face became granite.

"Clever khekkers, wonder how Alexei missed them?" Graf murmured as he studied the screen.

"Important thing is we're headed right for them, and I'm fairly sure we can't do a repeat performance of last time."

"Then we do it the old fashioned way," Graf replied, that oily smirk from before returning.

"Which is?" Eloni asked, not at all certain as to the Vostroyan's meaning.

"We run them over and shoot any that resist or run, the ever reliable Guard tactic. Surely you Gurends know it?"

"Oh yes, it's the main reason why my company now consists of two vehicles," Eloni replied.

Graf laughed and turned to address the passenger compartment.

"_**Smirna**_, prepare for glory, children! _Shatoushkaamy!_" the sound of bayonets being drawn and affixed to shouts of "_Ouuurrraaahhh!_" filled the vehicle. "We shall soon show these xenos what happens to those that think they can outsmart Papa Alexei."

Eloni didn't reply, he was too busy trying to identify potential trouble makers.

"Two, this is One. Confirm hostiles present at DZ. We're rolling in hot, over."

"Roger that, One. Formation?"

"Line, keep a distance of twenty metres my left. All targets between ridgeline of Hill 113 and shoreline are to be assumed hostile. We'll let the grunts out after we're clear of the soup, fire on my lead, how copy?"

"Affirmative. Any priority targets, One?"

"Confirmed, three targets with possible AT ability, as ever, keep your eyes peeled, Two. Out." Eloni switched to internal vox as he continued scanning. "Alright boys, look alive. Targets just north of our DZ, Tarriman you're cleared to engage anything below the ridgeline. Jakers, if anything gets in our way run it over, let's push this crate, lads."

The Chimera lurched forward as Jakers pushed the throttle, the vibrations from the engine causing loose gear to rattle.

_Okay, here we go,_ Eloni thought as he brought the autocannons to bear on his first target. He'd have to make his shots count; Tarriman wouldn't be able to target anything until they were clear of the water due to the bow wave washing over the hull. He heard Graf leading what he assumed was a prayer. Even if it wasn't in Low Gothic, the tone was all too familiar.

_Emperor watch over us, we fragile mortals who fight in Your name. We petty things that struggle against the dark, guided by Your light. Let me see the high spires of Therit Prime again, and if not, then let me die well, taking as many of those farging things with me as I can. _

_Ave Imperator._

"Estimate two minutes until we make contact, sergeant," Eloni called back to the passenger compartment.

"Very good, corporal. The Emperor protects."

"The Emperor protects," Eloni echoed, hoping the old adage was true. A moment later he noticed an odd reading on the target finder, an odd line of yellow that disappeared almost as soon as it appeared. He realized it was lasrifle fire. One of the further away blobs fell over, some of the other blobs dispering as yet more lasrifle fire flickered towards them. Soon a number of small glowing blobs moving at great speed joined the lasfire. From the looks of it someone had noticed the xenos, someone with a large calibre infantry weapon.

_I suppose that's my cue, _Eloni though as he turned to Gunny's frequency.

"Two, looks like the party has started without us, hostiles have been engaged by first wave. Let's get stuck in before they eat all the pies, over."

"Roger that, One. Awaiting the word."

"Roger that, Two. You start from the left and we'll work our way towards the middle," Eloni replied. "Last to twenty kills forfeits their Amasec ration."

Fyodor was sighting on a tall Kroot when the autocannons opened up. He was quite shocked by the noise, which easily cut through the whine of lasfire, the chatter of the stubber and Georgi's almost worrying laughter. The heavy rounds churned up earth, mud and xeno without mercy. The xenos had already been surprised by the stubber team's fire, which had quickly suppressed the advancing party through the sheer rate of fire available to them. Now their attempts to flank and set up a crossfire on the stubber team was thrown into complete confusion as the Chimeras systematically eliminated any Kroot that had stayed in close proximity to each other. Fyodor had to stop, it was just too much to take in and he'd lost his target. He watched as the Chimeras emerged from the mist, fire wreathing the barrels of heavy bolter and autocannon, the flicker of lasfire coming forth from new figures advancing almost at a run.

"It's Graf! It's khekking Alyoshin and second wave!" Kremenchug shouted excitedly as he reloaded his carbine. It was a redundant statement, who else could it be? They'd been expected after all. For the stubber team, left all alone and suddenly attacked from behind, the Chimeras came as wrathful angels visiting vengeance upon the sinful.

The stubber team watched as the Kroot were cut down, some standing and trying desperately to defend themselves, those closest to second wave actually charging the advancing Vostroyans. Those few that could recognize the situation tried to run for the long grass and the swamplands, hoping to find sanctuary there.

"Cowards! They are running! Gun them down!" Georgi shouted, bringing the stubber to bear as Kremenchug and Novotsinev continued to pick off fleeing stragglers. It was here, as Kremenchug kneecapped a fleeing kroot that Fyodor realized that something was beeping in his ear.

"_Da,_ Sergyent, Pryvat Fyodor Bondarchuk here, we are firing at a group of Kroot, they were trying to ambush us when the Chimeras came up behind them. They are fleeing Sergyent! We are cutting them down!" Alexei looked to Demitri, who shrugged his massive shoulders, a vague grin on his face.

"That's wonderful Pryvat, now get that fool Krutschko on this line right now!" Alexei waited impatiently as Georgi stopped firing and finally made a real report, the sound of the autocannons getting closer and more lasgun fire filling in for the now silent stubber.

"Sorry Alexei, we were firing at a xeno infiltration party, they were creeping up to us as the Chimeras were approaching. When I looked back to check on the Chimeras' progress I saw a number of the little radniks getting up and running for it. It was beautiful, Alexei, I wish you could have seen it. Forty or more of the things caught between us and the Chimeras-" Georgi laughed loudly into Alexei's ear.

Alexei was about to rip Georgi a new one when he heard the telltale beeping from the Company frequency. Flipping channels to the Company frequency he could hear Graf Alyoshin shouting orders to the newly arrived squads.

"Alexei? Are you still in one piece?"

"_Da_, I'm still here, seems you got a hot reception from the some radnik Xenos."

He heard Graf laugh and could picture the smile on his face.

"Ha, they tried to anyway, but we're mo-" Alexei heard the sound of a struggle for a few moments until Graf came back onto the line "-stay down you khekker... sorry Alexei, we're mopping them up now. Grimenko! Make sure these bastards are down and dead before you pass them by! What do you think you have a bayonet for, uh? So what's the plan?"

"First tank is gone, we're clearing the trenches, leave a squad with the Cheveks and move up to us. After that we're playing it by ear." He heard Graf laugh.

"As we always do, eh?"

Alexei smiled at that.

"_Da_, as always."

Alexei returned to Georgi's frequency and verbally ripped him a new one for not alerting Alexei, as well as for not spotting the Xenos sooner. Damn it, had it not been for the Chimeras Alexei would have found himself entirely surrounded and without one of his key teams. He'd need that team all too soon. He made his way back to the first junction and looked to his squad.

"Okay, stack up on me, Viki, you and Troska are going to be watching the rear, remember the rest of the company is moving up to join us, so watch your fire and make sure your target is a xeno before you pull the trigger, eh?"

The two tank killers nodded.

"_Puyotnam_ Sergyent" Viki said, still winded after lugging his RPG all the way from the ridgeline. Alexei gave him a proud nod, he was doing well so far, he and Troska had promise yet. They may even earn their beards this night if there were enough Xeno tanks about.

He moved up the zigzagging trench with Demitri right behind him, Anatoly, Piotr, Mischa and the tank killing duo following suit. Alexei could see the mortar fire starting to land on the far crest, it was starting outstrip his advance. That could be problematic but at least he wasn't going out like Leftenyant Tokarev; killed by friendly fire called onto his own position by mistake.

Rounding a corner he got the fright of his life when he found a Tau fire warrior not three feet from him.


End file.
